U.S. Strongly Represented in Inaugural Concacaf Awards

Taking a page from UEFA, Concacaf announced nominees for the regions first ever awards for best coach, player etc. Not surprisingly, American players feature prominently in these inaugural nominations.

Donovan and Dempsey continue to be regarded as top players for the U.S.(ISI Photos/John Todd)

Four of the 10 Male Player of the Year Nominees wear the Stars and Stripes, with Jozy Altidore, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley earning the nods. The U.S. WNT are even more strongly represented, claiming six of the 10 nominations. The six U.S. women nominated are Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan, Hope Solo, Sydney Leroux, Christie Rampone and Morgan Bryant. As always seems to be the way, Canada’s Christine Sinclair figures to be the Yanks toughest competition.

“We are delighted to introduce the first edition of the annual CONCACAF Awards, which will provide rightful and much-deserved recognition to our region’s best players, coaches and referees in the women’s and men’s games,” said CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb in a release. “This event promises to become a prominent date on the football calendar for players and fans alike.”

Concacaf national team coaches and captains make up one third of the vote, regional media will count for another third and fans will have their say as well, accounting for the final third of the votes. Fans can go to concacaf.com to cast their votes.

U.S. Men’s National Team coach Jurgen Klinsmann and Los Angeles Galaxy supremo Bruce Arena are nominated in the coaching category, Tim Howard will have a good chance at winning Goalkeeper of the Year and Jozy Altidore and Brek Shea(!) are nominated for Goal of the Year. Even the referee’s get their day, with 10 men from seven countries up for the honors.

Morgan and Leroux have shone for the U.S WNT and also in the NWSL(ISI Photos/Michael Janosz)

While the awards a good addition to the Concacaf calendar, the organization has chosen not to have a separate women’s goalkeeper award and no women’s coaches, or referee’s for that matter, have been considered.

The complete list of nominees can be found at Concacaf.com. The votes will be counted by mid-December, with three finalists selected in each of the six categories. The award winners will be announced before the end of 2013, through the website concacaf.com

About Peter Nolan

Peter Nolan is a staff writer for the GotSoccer Magazine, covering MLS and other US leagues, He's GotSoccer's chief National Team Correspondent.